Ask around and the standard advice is a saucer of milk for the cat and leftover roti for the dog. Both are offered with real affection, and both are near the top of the list of things that quietly keep pets unwell.
Milk
Kittens and puppies digest their mother's milk with an enzyme that most of them stop producing once they are weaned. Give cow's milk to an adult cat or dog and the lactose passes through undigested, draws water into the gut and ferments. The result is wind, loose stools, and an owner who cannot work out why the diarrhoea never quite settles.
An orphaned kitten is a separate matter, and an urgent one. Cow or buffalo milk will not sustain it. It needs a kitten milk replacer and a vet's guidance on feeding intervals, because a young kitten can go downhill in hours.
Roti and salan
The problem is less the bread than what comes with it. Onion and garlic are in almost every masala, and both damage red blood cells in dogs and cats. The effect is cumulative, so it is rarely one dramatic meal; it is a year of small servings and an animal that is gradually tired and pale.
Then there is the salt, the chilli, and the oil. A sudden fatty meal is a well-recognised trigger for pancreatitis, which is painful and sometimes fatal. Pets have a particularly bad week after large family meals for exactly this reason.
Nothing on your plate was designed for an animal that weighs eight kilograms and cannot tell you it feels unwell.
Bones
Cooking makes bone brittle, so it splinters into sharp fragments rather than crushing. Those fragments break teeth, lodge in the throat, and tear the stomach and intestines. Cooked chicken bones are the worst of them and also the ones most often handed down from the table.
Raw bones are less brittle but carry their own risks of fractured teeth, obstruction and contamination. If you want to give your dog something to work at, ask your vet for a safe chew instead. A blocked or perforated gut is major surgery with an uncertain ending.
What to feed instead
- A complete food appropriate to the life stage: puppy or kitten, adult, or senior, with large-breed puppies on a diet made for them
- Or a home-cooked diet formulated by a veterinarian, which means a written recipe with supplements, not an internet list
- Clean water, changed daily, in a wide bowl away from the food, which matters most for cats
- Treats kept to a tenth of the day's intake, using pieces of their own kibble where you can
- Meals measured with a cup or scale rather than judged by eye, and split into two for most adults
Things worth knowing besides the big three
- Chocolate, grapes, raisins and anything sweetened with xylitol are toxic, not merely unsuitable
- Calcium supplements given to a growing large-breed puppy cause harm rather than stronger bones
- Free-feeding a bowl all day is how most indoor cats become overweight
- A dog that suddenly refuses a food it has always liked is telling you something; see our guide on a dog that stops eating
- Buy where stock moves and storage is cool, and check the date: rancid food in our climate is common
If you are not sure whether what you feed is right for your animal, it is a good question for an online consultation. Bring the packet, your pet's weight, and an honest list of what else it gets during the day, since the extras are usually where the problem is.
Common questions
Can I give my cat milk?
Most adult cats lose the ability to digest lactose, so cow's milk ferments in the gut and causes diarrhoea. Cats also drink too little water in general, and milk is not a substitute for a clean bowl of it. Orphaned kittens need a proper kitten milk replacer, never cow or buffalo milk.
Is roti bad for dogs?
Plain roti is not poisonous, but a diet built on it is deficient, and roti soaked in salan brings salt, chilli, oil, and usually onion and garlic. Fed daily, that combination produces overweight, itchy, chronically loose-stooled dogs, and occasionally a serious inflammation of the pancreas.
What about raw meat, since dogs are descended from wolves?
Raw meat carries salmonella and other organisms that make both the animal and the household ill, and raw diets are difficult to balance correctly. If you want to feed one, it needs to be formulated by a veterinarian rather than assembled from advice online.
How much should I feed?
Start with the guide on the packet for your pet's weight, then adjust to the animal rather than the chart. You should be able to feel the ribs easily without pressing, and see a waist from above. Treats should stay under roughly a tenth of daily intake.
How do I switch foods without upsetting the stomach?
Over five to seven days. Start at about a quarter new food, and increase the proportion every couple of days. A sudden change is one of the most common causes of diarrhoea we hear about, and it also makes it impossible to tell whether the new food actually suits your pet.